Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Sunday, December 14, 2008

My trip to Hollywood.

So I went to Hollywood. And got my photo by some of the cooler stars on the Walk of Fame. Here's one of those photos. More to come as I get them e-mailed to me.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Pet peeve

When I'm standing in line for fast food and the person behind the counter says, "I can help whoever's next."

I make a conscious decision every time I hear that not to tell the person that it's "whomever."

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Yet another Oh Wow.

This blog isn't going to become exclusively a place for me to post random cool videos that I come across, but that's all I really feel like talking about at the moment so it's all you get.

In the mean time - a highly entertaining acapella version of many of John Williams's themes.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Blizzcon 2008

The photos I took. I may or may not annotate them in the future.

Blizzcon 2008

Wow.

And for once, I'm not referring to a game.

All I have to say to this is wow. Thanks, Jade.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode Guide

Sunday, September 28, 2008

For what it's worth...

I'm told that she's recovering well and is now walking around. That about covers everything I know. Yes, I sent her a Get Well/Thinking of You card, no I have not contacted her further and our mutual friends assure me that they encourage her not to contact me in response to the card.

Monday, August 18, 2008

"I don't know if you want to know, but..."

I hate hearing things that start this way. Well, that's not fair. I just cringe when I hear that opening. The problem is that sometimes I do want to know and other times I don't. The only way to tell is to hear it, unfortunately. Then, after I decide that it's something I didn't want to hear, it's pretty easy to just go back in time to let the person telling me this story know that he can go merrily upon his way without letting me be any the wiser.

So I don't actually intend for every other post on this blog to be about her. It just ends up that way - probably because she's still about the only thing that can really motivate me to have something to say, write it up, and then post it. I think this one's going up because I at least half-hope she'll read it. I don't know if she'll want to read it, but...well, she can always go back in time to tell herself how stupid of an idea it is if she finds out later that she didn't.

So the rest of the story was, "...she called me last night." At this point I shrug. What does it matter to me if she calls people? It's something she does frequently. I know it. Heck, I encouraged it. Both in her and in the people I know. I have a lot of good friends. I could still be a good friend if it weren't for the fact that my heart is still so sunk into her that I couldn't *ONLY* be a friend. It's the largest single reason why I enforce a separation between us, no matter why she thinks it is that I don't want anything to do with her. Anyway, like I said, I have a lot of good friends and I couldn't see any good reason for her not to be friends with them too. They all know not to invite us to the same events, so it's fine.

"She was in an accident last night." Oh. Now I start to feel bad about the shrug. It's not that I don't care. Quite the opposite. I think it's fair to say that I care more about her than I ever have about any person ever. That's present tense - I *still* care for her more than I ever *have* cared for any person ever. That says a lot, both about how I still feel for her, and also about the general apathy towards people that I seem to continually find myself in. It's not like I don't live with this huge list of things I know need improvement.

For a long time, I've tossed around scenarios in my head. What would happen if one of us were to die? Would the other be invited to the funeral? Would the other *GO*? Would the other have anything to say? Stupid stuff like that. Personally, I don't care what she would choose to do. I mean, I don't care who wants to come to my funeral or what their reasons are. By the time such decisions have to be made, I'll be beyond the point of caring. Hopefully someone would let her know (I can think of at least 2 who would make a point to), and hopefully someone would let her know she's welcome to come (since I've never talked with this to anyone, I don't know if that'd happen or not). Would I go to hers? I don't know. Thankfully that's not a decision I have to make this morning.

"Was it anything serious?" "A few broken bones, I think her pelvis and spine were damaged, but the doctors said it wasn't anything weight-bearing so there shouldn't be any permanent damage." Well, that's a relief. I mean, it's not as if our relationship ended on what can be termed a "happy" note, but I certainly don't wish her ill. I don't know if she's still the same person I fell in love with, but I know I'm not the same person she did.

Anyway, having that conversation this morning with a friend as he picks up his laptop to head to Michigan to start another school year...a bit surreal. To her, I say "Get better." Maybe more to write will come later.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Movie Review: Wall-E

Go see it, it ruled. Not the sort of ruled like bad movies or mediocre movies rule, but the sort of ruled like awesome movies rule. That is all.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Reinvention of the Blog...

I've decided that to stimulate posting, I should change this blog to one where I do movie reviews. Lucky for me, I stopped going to movies in the theater. HAHAHA! Now I have an EXCUSE not to post.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Jarrt Ngokjhat

Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday, you who know who you are.
Happy Birthday to you.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Questions from Readers!

Let's take a moment to address some questions that readers have sent in! Yes, that means that you too can send me a question and it may very well be responded to within your lifetime!

If he created all things perfect, if humans are perfect creations, why do we suffer? Why is there suffering? If God had a master plan, and knew any and everything that would ever happen, if he knew every thought anyone would ever have... why did he still build us to suffer?

Wow, this is a big question. And it's one that people have been wrestling with for centuries. I don't expect to be able to provide a definitive answer that everyone will find satisfactory tonight. If you expect that out of me...well, you must assume I'm even more awesome than I do, and that's quite an accomplishment.

First, what is perfection? Is it really as simple as "being without flaw"? How would one know the difference between a flaw and a feature? If all humans have a certain characteristic (say, a tendency to lie when they believe they can get away with it), then can you correctly classify that as a flaw? Perhaps it's an intended design element. (I'm going to always write as though humans are in fact designed. It's not my place to argue for design vs. random happenstance. There are people who know biology, probability, history, archeology, and so many other things of importance much better than me much better suited to such arguments. I have been convinced of design, and I will only speak from that background.)

The response to that question (How can we know whether these characteristics of humans are "bugs" or "features?") lies in the pattern from which humans were created. We were created in the "image of God,1" meaning that much of who we are comes from Who He is. Whatever characteristics of our character don't match with His are flaws.

That's just a little something to start with for what it means to be perfect. In God's image, having His characteristics.

Of course, one of the characteristics of God is His free will. He has the power, the right, and the authority to do anything He wants. In loving us and desiring to be truly loved BY us, He empowered us with the same ability. However, we do not have the right or the authority to do whatever we want, simply the power to do so. Much like a child has the power to disobey his parents, even when he doesn't have the right or the authority to do so.

A long time ago, someone exercised this power in a way contrary to God's design. God allowed this because in loving His creation, He allowed it the freedom to exercise its power, even when that hurt Him. I am inclined to believe (though I have no theological proof for it) that this effected a genetic change (mutation, if you will) from what humanity was created as into something slightly different. Theologically, this is known as "Original Sin" - the concept that humans are born (conceived, actually) with sin as an aspect of their existence, separated from God by that sin. This is certainly a spiritual matter, but I would not be surprised at all to learn that there were measurable physical biological side effects. Unfortunately, we don't have Adam's pre-sin genetic code somewhere in a database to compare.

(Side note for some people who may perhaps read this: I do not hold this as some fundamental aspect of my faith. This is merely an explanation/rationalization I have concocted to explain phenomena I have observed. It may be wrong, it's not as if there's Biblical statements to the effect that man's genetic code was altered by sin, or if there are, I haven't interpreted them as such.)

But, to bring things back to the question originally posed, humans were not created to suffer. Humans were created to enjoy communion with God. Humans chose to separate themselves from God. It's our choice to operate outside of how we were designed which creates suffering. That choice was available to us because true love cannot exist without that choice.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Moved!

My computer has finally moved in with me. It now sleeps under the same roof that I do. With luck, that means that I'll now be a bit more faithful to keep this site updated. For now, I've just been on the go go go! So we'll see what happens. No promises except that I promise that I won't completely forget about the existence of this blog...at least not this week.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Just a quick inquiry

I'm curious who/how many people read(s) this blog. If you read, would you drop a comment on this? Even anonymous is fine, I don't necessarily need to know who you are.